Broccoli Slaw

This is the broccoli slaw recipe from Smitten Kitchen. I loved this! It was refreshing and surprisingly light. 

I did use real buttermilk instead of my usual substitute (milk + white vinegar) because I wasn't sure of the flavor impact.

Next time I would add some dice chicken, or red cabbage or maybe sprinkle some crispy bacon pieces on top because...why not?! If I added more I would make more dressing too.

Broccoli Slaw

makes about 9 cups

2 heads of broccoli (florets and stems)
1/2 cup thinly sliced almonds or walnuts
1/3 - 1/2 cup dried cranberries or raisins
1/2 small red onion, finely chopped (about 1/4 cup)

Buttermilk Dressing:
1/2 cup buttermilk, well-shaken
1/3 cup mayonnaise
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon sugar

Salt & Pepper

Trim broccoli and cut into bite sized pieces using a knife, food processor, or mandolin slicer.

Toss the sliced broccoli with the almonds or walnuts, cranberries or raisins, and red onion in a large bowl (I used my largest cooking pot). 

In a small bowl, whisk all the dressing ingredients together. Pour the dressing over the broccoli and toss it well. Season with additional salt and pepper if you'd like.

Store in the fridge until ready to serve for up to a week.

Apple Cinnamon French Toast

Looking for a quick dinner? Or breakfast? This french toast was so easy to create!

I used Trader Joe's Multigrain Country Bread which I don't really care for for sandwiches since it is a little on the drier side. BUT this was perfect for this eggy french toast! I'm not a fan of syrup so I wanted to make a fruit topping (last time I used raspberry jelly, delish!). There were apples waiting to be used to this would be perfect! The topping is based around an apple pie filling. You could also add apple pie spice or nutmeg if you wanted.

Next time I would use half the amount of yolks (ie 2 eggs, but separate one egg from the yolk) to see if it would change the texture while making it a little healthier.

Naked French Toast

Topped with Apples and Cinnamon

A lil dollop of jelly

French Toast

The general rule of thumb is 1 egg per slice of bread. For 6 eggs (6 slices of bread) I used about 1 tsp cinnamon and vanilla, 1/4 cup of water.

In bowl (or a 9x9 baking dish) scramble the eggs, cinnamon, vanilla, and a splash of water (or milk). Dip bread slices in egg batter and let the egg get a bit absorbed (about a minute). Heat frying pan over medium, cook until brown on one side (approx 3-5 minutes), then flip and cook the other side.

Apple Cinnamon Topping
Tops 6 slices of french toast

1/2 tbsp butter
1 tsp brown sugar, packed
1 tsp (ish) cinnamon
a splash of water (2 tbsp?)
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1 medium apple, small dice, I didn't peel it

Heat skillet over medium. Melt butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon. Add the apple and walnuts and stir until coated. I wanted a little "sauce" so I added a splash of water. Cook until apples are starting to soften and a sauce is starting to form.

Candied Walnuts #2

Sorry for the delay! I've been moving and haven't had internet. I'll be slowly posting the recipes from the holiays! =)

I tried a new candied nut recipe from AllRecipes! I used walnuts but you can use pecans or whatever nut you choose. Candy-ing nuts are an elegant salad topper or can be served with wine and cheese or as a snack.

This is the recipe I tried last time which uses nuts, cinnamon, sugar, and an egg white. Also a very fast recipe.

I think this took me 10 minutes to make.

I decided to do about 1 cup of walnuts per person for part of a holiday gift. I used the AllRecipe serving converter to create the measurements below.

Candied Walnuts
Ingredients
1/4 lb (2 cups) walnuts (whole or halves)
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp salt
1 tbsp and 1 1/2 tsp of milk
1/4 tsp vanilla

1. Toast walnuts in frying pan.
2. Meanwhile combine: sugar, cinnamon, salt, milk, and vanilla. Stir about 5 minutes (soft ball stage). This means when I stir the edges are starting to get thicker and less runny.
3. Add toasted walnuts into the sugar mix. Stir quickly to coat.
4. Spread out on parchment paper (or silpat mat). They cool quickly so work fast!
5. Let cool then package!

Morning Glory Muffins

Continuing on the zucchini binge (Zucchini Bread with Chocolate Chips and Walnuts)...

These are some of my favorite hearty muffins. Its a regular moist quick bread with lots of tasty things such as coconut, raisins, walnuts, pineapple, etc. I have no idea where I found this recipe but it is a fast go to recipe for me. I substituted in zucchini for the grated carrots. It also calls for 1 apple but I don't include that since I generally don't have apples hanging around. I normally make jumbo ones and freeze them. This time I was feeling lazy so I make them in 8x8 pans.

While there are a lot of ingredients, it is a basic recipe. Wet ingredients + dry ingredients, and mix until just combined.

Preparing the pans (if you aren't going to use muffin papers) is just spraying the tins with non stick spray, then taking a tbsp of flour and tapping it around until all the surfaces are covered.

This makes two 8x8 pans (40-45 min), or 1 8x8 and a loaf pan (50-60 min), 16 jumbo muffins (20 min), and 14 regular muffins (15-18 min) and 24 mini muffins (13 min).

Morning Glory Muffins

Ingredients:

3 large eggs
1 cup vegetable oil (used ½ apple sauce ½ oil)

1-1/4 cups sugar
1 cup (8 ounces) crushed pineapple, drained
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 cups grated carrots
2-1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup shredded, sweetened coconut
3/4 cup raisins, light or dark

1/2- 1 cup coarsely chopped pecans or walnut

Directions:
Position a rack in lower third of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F. Line standard muffin pans with paper liners. Set aside.
In a separate bowl, whisk eggs, oil, and vanilla.
Whisk together sugar, flour, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt into a large bowl. Add to dry ingredients and mix until combined.
Add coconut, raisins, pineapple, carrots, and nuts, and stir to combine.
Spoon batter into muffin tins, filling to top of each cup. 
Bake until a toothpick inserted into middle comes out clean (see above for timings).
Cool muffins in pan for 10 minutes, then turn onto a rack to finish cooling.

Zucchini Bread with Chocolate Chips & Walnuts

Nate's mom brought me a 5-6 pound 18 inches large zucchini. This zucchini was the equivalent of 12 cups of grated.... NOW WHAT?!

What I didn't do and what you should do when dealing with giant zucchini is peel the zucchini first, the skin is very tough. I just hacked away until it was pieces small enough to fit into my food processor.

 

So here is a Zucchini Bread recipe! (Here is the Morning Glory Muffin recipe). I found this on AllRecipes here Zucchini Bread. I used 3 cups instead of 2 cups of zucchini, reduced the sugar and used 1/2 brown sugar and 1/2 white sugar, also I used 1/2 apple sauce and 1/2 vegetable oil.

 Combine wet ingredients.

 Add dry ingredients.

 Add in the toppings: shredded zucchini, chocolate chips, and walnuts.

Pour into prepared pans: spray with cooking spray and sprinkle tin with flour. Tap it around to coat all the corners and sides.

The 8x8 pan took about 45 minutes.

Zucchini Bread
makes 2 8x8 pans

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

3 teaspoons ground cinnamon

3 eggs

1 cup vegetable oil

1 cup white sugar

1 cup brown sugar

3 teaspoons vanilla extract

3 cups grated zucchini

1 cup chopped walnut
1 cup chocolate chips

Grease and flour two 8 x 8 inch pans. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
Sift flour, salt, baking powder, soda, and cinnamon together in a bowl.
Beat eggs, oil, vanilla, and sugar together in a large bowl. Add sifted ingredients to the creamed mixture, and beat well. Stir in zucchini, chocolate chips, and nuts until just combined. 
Pour batter into prepared pans.
Bake for 40 to 60 minutes, or until tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in pan on rack for 20 minutes. Remove bread from pan, and completely cool.